The MoFo Top 100 Film Noir Countdown

After yesterday's glitch, we're back to our regular programming of me not having seen anything Anyway, The Amazing Mr. X sounds like the kind of stuff I would dig. The fact that it got 37 points from only 2 lists means that those two people think really highly of it, so that's good.

__________________

Whoa, this pairing offers us the film with the lowest RT score/IMDb rating (38%/6.4) along with one of the highest RT scores (100%)

Let us know how you liked it.

Cool Allaby you just now watched those. Did you like both of those?

Two more for the watchlist. I knew I wasn’t Citizen or Holden level, but I thought I was a pretty decent Noir fan. Beginning to think I haven’t seen anything.

__________________
Letterboxd

Stranger on the Third Floor was pretty good and I rated it a 7/10. Mystery Street was just okay, a 6/10. Neither one would have made my ballot.

The Amazing Mr. X (1948)...I'd never heard of it until I seen it on a couple of ballots so I watched it two nights ago. Visually it's shot really well. There's this huge mansion on the cliffs overlooking the Pacific ocean that is so cool that it should've got a starring credit. I believe the house and location is real and not a matte but I haven't researched that. At any rate it gives this film a cool gothic-mystic-noir vibe. The story wasn't well fleshed out, but at 78 minutes the time flies by. I wasn't familiar with the actor who played the scheming 'mystic' Alexis (Turhan Bey). I see he played in mainly poverty role b-adventure movies. He was good as a mystic as he had this very calm manner and unusual accent. Lynn Bari was the older sister with brunette hair who I'm not real familiar with. Cathy O'Donnell was the younger blonde sister and starred in many acclaimed movies, I seen her in another noir recently They Live By Night (1948). Not a favorite of mine, but a fun watch none the less.

Holden has seen many, many more noirs than I have...but I'm working on it But when it comes to all other genres, film movements and new films...I ain't seen squat. I've only seen a few of the neo noir films on that countdown so far. You've seen many more neo noirs than I have...I guess Hollywood mid-century is just my jam

Yahoo again! So I had one of my ballot movies make the neo-noir countdown today and I have one of my favorite noirs with two of my favorite noir actors making this countdown. Too Late For Tears was my #16...I wrote this about it in the Noirvember 2022 thread:


Too Late For Tears is a fine example of a female lead protagonist in a classic noir. Lizabeth Scott is one of those 1940s-50s actresses that landed in a number of noirs and yet doesn't always get the recognition she deserves. I've seen her in other films and she's always good with her penetrating stare and gravelly voice but here she's something great. She plays a married woman who while driving in a convertible with her husband on a dark road finds that a passing car has tossed a bag of money into their back seat. She wants to keep it...She's desperate to keep it, at all cost! Her husband Arthur Kennedy wants to give it up to the police. She will not allow that.

What I liked about this noir was how Lizabeth Scott's acting propelled her character's sick compulsive obsessive need to have money. She's like an addict, she can't help herself and with her need for money she crosses the line into the world of crime. It's a fine acting job backed up by a tight script.

The other element that impressed was Dan Duryea. I've seen many of his movies and Dan has the patent on sniveling, taunting demeanor with a duplicitous smile...but I've never seen him play a heavy handed character who ends up being scared, I mean really scared and demoralized...and Lizabeth Scott's character did all that to him. That gave his character a unique pathos despite the fact that he was a black mailer and had beat Lizabeth in earlier scenes. Too Late For Tears is a prime example of the emotional and acting heights film noir can achieve.

With two appearances so far on the countdown: Lizabeth Scott, Elisha Cook Jr. and John Garfield. Read a few articles about Garfield's personal life story, which is quite a Noir story of its own, interesting read.

__________________
Entertainment Log
Letterboxd profile

1 for 2. Haven't watched The Amazing Mr. X but Too Late for Tears was my #22. Looking at my list I could and should have placed it higher.

6 for 20.

I love this movie!!! Is it the greatest movie ever made? Probably not. But I enjoy it so much. Years ago, my friend and I had a set of films we'd watch over and over again in rotation, and this was one of them. To tell you the truth, I'd always considered it more of a supernatural film, but when I saw IMDb had tagged it noir, I had to put it on my list: #7.

I've seen this. I liked it a lot. If I remember right, some of the dialogue was very high-drama (not a criticism).


For those of you who get the Movies! Channel but aren't taking advantage of it, this was part of last night's noir marathon.

Out of the last 10 reveals, I've only seen one: Force of Evil. It wasn't on my ballot, and there's another film I keep mixing it up with, and I'm still not entirely sure which one is which haha.

I've actually never heard of The Amazing Mr. X before, but CR saying it has a "gothic-mystic-noir vibe" makes me want to check it out. Maybe if I start watching some of these noirs, my seen count at the end of the Countdown won't be so sad looking haha.

Seen: 5/20

My List: 1
03. Stranger on the Third Floor (1940) - #92

__________________

I don't recall ever hearing of these 2

I bet you'll know tomorrow's reveals, both of those are well liked noirs.

Haven't see either film! Oh well.

__________________
"Don't be so gloomy. After all it's not that awful. Like the fella says, in Italy for 30 years under the Borgias they had warfare, terror, murder, and bloodshed, but they produced Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci, and the Renaissance. In Switzerland they had brotherly love - they had 500 years of democracy and peace, and what did that produce? The cuckoo clock."

Nope and Nope. I have seen The Amazing Mr. X. I like moongirl consider it more of a supernatural story. I didn't see The Lizabeth Scott movie either

Too Late for Tears is a lollapalooza of a noir. Lizbeth Scott plays a very nasty femme fatale, and it's one of her best roles-- really playing against type. The picture didn't get much praise when it came out in 1949, but it's since gotten quite a following. Film Noir Foundation and other contributors completely restored the film, so it's available on both DVD and Blue Ray.

I grew up watching Don Defore in "Ozzie & Harriet", but Defore was actually in a few good noirs, including this one and Dark City (1950).

I really like the movie, but it didn't crack my top 25.

I haven't seen The Amazing Mr. X but I have heard of Turhan Bey as he was in one of the Universal 'Mummy' movies, The Mummy's Tomb. I love the Universal horror films, so I remembered his name even when I was little. He was also in a couple of episodes of Babylon 5 which I watched avidly, but dang if I can remember seeing him. The fact that he was older then (probably his 70s) by that time might have had something to do with it but I don't even remember his name in the credits. Cathy O'Donnell I remember from The Best Years of Our Lives and I was fairly smitten with her so I look forward to seeing her in this.

I saw Too Late For Tears too late (ahem) to put on my list, but if I had I would definitely have put it there. I had only seen Lizabeth Scott, to my recall, in two films before this. One made my ballot, but the first thing I ever saw her in was the comedy/thriller Scared Stiff (1953), my favorite Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis movie. She was fine in that (both acting and looks) so it was cool to see her as a total money slut! She was so icy in this. Her husband wasn't even cold before she starting snuggling up to Dan Duryea! @Citizen Rules, you're so right in that it was unique to see Duryea turned into a quivering pile of nerves while trying to deal with Scott's evil ways. I liked Don DeFore in the old Hazel TV series and he's been in, funnily enough, a couple of Martin and Lewis films. He was also in a good movie that was Doris Day's first film, Romance on the High Seas, yet another film with a connection to my Dad that I won't boringly go into but it's funny how film connects you to other people and places. DeFore was also great in a fun Christmas movie, It Happened on Fifth Avenue, which I watch every year. Kristine Miller was very lovely as Scott's sister-in-law, and Miller is in another Noir on my Watch List.

Lastly, @Citizen Rules, I saw Slightly Scarlet last night and it was good stuff! Both ladies, Rhonda Fleming and Arlene Dahl, were beautfiul but I guess I lean more toward Fleming as the finer-looking one. Both were good in the acting department. And John Payne was great as the guy looking to better his position in the crooked ranks but by the end finds that he can be a better person through personal sacrifice. And yes, Ted de Corsia was really good as the big bad gangster of the piece. He's also in a couple on my ballot. Man, these actors were in a lot of Noirs, mixing and matching with the casts! From the sheer amount of Film Noir made in this time period of our countdown, I'm guessing that the genre was quite a lucrative business. Thanks for the recommendation of the movie!

__________________
"Miss Jean Louise, Mr. Arthur Radley."

Stats: Pit Stop #2

---

After hitting our second pit stop (80), here's were we are now:

Yearly Breakdown

• 1940 = 1
• 1941 = 0
• 1942 = 0
• 1943 = 1
• 1944 = 1
• 1945 = 0
• 1946 = 2
• 1947 = 2
• 1948 = 5
• 1949 = 2
• 1950 = 3
• 1951 = 0
• 1952 = 1
• 1953 = 1
• 1954 = 0
• 1955 = 0
• 1956 = 0
• 1957 = 0
• 1958 = 1
• 1959 = 0

Short-lived dominion by 1950. Now it's 1948, with three entries getting it today.

Repeating Directors

• Robert Rossen = 2
• Robert Wise = 2

Only two so far, but will there be more? Who will show more than once here?